


Birthday

by Ramenlover



Category: Runemarks Series - Joanne Harris
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 03:03:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1672298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ramenlover/pseuds/Ramenlover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'The goblins and their Captain have known about you since the day you were born…'</p><p>When something powerful is born into the world, it will announce its arrival for all to hear. Well, those with their ears switched on anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday

Loki was bored. It was a feeling that had struck him quite a lot in recent years. He didn’t like it. Being under the hill was taking its toll on him. Ahead of him were many long days stretching out into many long years then into many long decades. Once he’d taken the strong hold and finished filling it with as much magic as he could muster, there was little more to hold his attention.

He _could_ be strolling around the galleries in his Lucky aspect, talking with traders, gathering news or stories. Then again, he also could be annoying the Whisperer in its fiery prison. Instead, he was lying in his quarters with his feet against the wall and a blank piece of paper across the angle of his legs. At some point in the day he’d gotten the idea of writing, maybe adding to the Lokabrenna. However, the pen lay idle beside him. Something was off. For the first time in a while he felt properly restless. Some force was nagging at him trying to encourage him to… to do...

Something!

What that ‘Something’ was, he had no idea.

Mind thrumming with forcefully contained energy he rolled off of the bed to pace around the room. He was agitated, half wanting to convert to his fiery aspect and race through the halls, half wanting to pound his head against the wall to leave himself unconscious. Wow, if he was contemplating self-harm something _definitely_ must be wrong.

And it was getting worse. It was like a pressure was building, not unlike the geysers of steam down by the fire pit. Gradually increasing in power until it could no longer be contained and exploded outwards.

The sudden thought of explosions brought horrible scenarios to mind and he sat down quickly. But the very idea of actually _exploding_ was ridiculous…

Right?

Hyperactive hands tapping nervously, he stared about his room again. This agitation was killing him, he needed to find out what was going on. Grumbling to himself, he stepped out of his room and into the corridor. The rune _Sol_ was engraved into the wall every few paces, lighting his way as he walked. After several minutes, signs of his goblin housemates began to show. Empty kegs of beer, stained rags, gnawed bones, bits of trash and rusted armour littering the ground around him as doorways opened out from the corridor. Kicking aside a large china dish, he muttered to himself that it was time for another clean up. He was all for chaos when it came to his followers but if that meant a simple corridor became a health hazard then that was frankly ridiculous. But even as he looked around, he noticed a distinct lack of furry faced creatures to order around.

The power he could feel emanating through the earth suddenly spiked. It was coming from the world above. How was that possible? Surely a glam this brilliant must be some ancient being stirring deep below the ground.

But no… it was coming from above. Something wasn’t awakening, something was being _born_. Something powerful. Something… glorious.

A goblin staggered out from the hall beside him. Too consumed with some task, he didn’t notice Loki till it crashed into him.

“Cap’n!” The goblin staggered back from him. “Apologies, sir. I didn’ mean to-”

“Where is everyone?” Loki asked, frowning.

“Gone, ain’t they.” The goblin sniffed. “Somethin’ ain’t right. They’ve gone ta see what.”

“You mean you know where it is?” Loki stared at the goblin in surprise. In hindsight, it shouldn’t have been surprising. The goblins were more attuned to the land around them. Besides, they were probably not getting as much general… glam… aura…stuff or whatever was currently trying to bury its non-existent fingers in his skull. They’d only sense enough to know where it was coming from. “Take me there,” he ordered.

It was as they neared one of the many exits from the hill that the building pressure exploded in a great tidal wave of power. Staggering against the stony wall, Loki gasped, waiting for the white hot mass to recede from his brain. After several minutes it did. His vision cleared to reveal the goblin staring at him with a mixture of fear, worry and several other emotions that probably wouldn’t have done him any good.

“I’m fine,” Loki assured. “Carry on.”

In the end, they had to wait a couple of hours till darkness fell, covering the land around them in shadows. He could still feel the new born power pulsing gently a couple of miles away. With truesight he could catch a glimpse of brilliant red-gold light beckoning him closer.

They were lead to a house. Unimportant looking and pretty normal. It gave nothing away to the energy that now slumbered within it. The goblins were already there. They played and jumped inside a nursery where a crib stood unguarded. They clustered around to spy on the little bundle that lay inside. As soon as he slipped through the window, the dispersed from around it. Backing away, they watched as he approached. Within the wooden frame lay a baby girl, resting peacefully. One peek through the circle of his thumb and forefinger told him that she was indeed the source of this magnificent power.

“Hello, little one,” he murmured, stroking one long finger across her cheek. At his touch, she opened her eyes. Large grey-gold eyes that watched him curiously. She didn’t cry as any normal child might, instead she held out a tiny hand, swiping for his finger. There! Gently catching her wrist between two fingers, he inspected her palm. A runemark shone from it, like a spark or fire fly. Strong and glowing intensely. “Modi,” he breathed. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” he told her, picking her up. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”

Gently, he rocked her in his arms as Sigyn had shown him to do so many centuries ago, so many miles from here. “Apparently you’re supposed to take us home,” he mused. “You and your twin. Somewhere little Magni’s been born as well… I wonder if you’ll find each other.” He stroked the fine layer of hair that covered her otherwise bald head. “I hope you do, I’d like to go home someday. Well… not _home_. I could go there anytime I liked if I wanted to die a traitor’s death. But the closest thing to home that I have.” She snagged his finger and held it close with two minute fists. Smiling he sat beside the crib, feeling her glam thrum through her like the embers of a fire. A warm brilliance like the rays of the rising sun. Now that she was alive and whole, the all-consuming aura of her glam was receding within her, ready to slumber until it was ready to be awakened. Humming softly, he gently rocked her again.

How easy it would be just to take her. To grab her now and raise her. She’d be a valuable weapon if he could train her right. Teach her how to use her glam from an early age, tutor her in the histories of her people, casting himself in a slightly better light than Odin may have done of course.

The Old Man _must_ have felt this too, no matter how far away he was. Even if he hadn’t felt the intensity of it, he must have felt some power. Enough to make him continue with his search for the twins and his quest for Asgard. Loki knew the Old Man came here every so often to check on the hill. If the child went missing, he may overhear the villagers gossiping. A child kidnapped by faeries. A child with a mark of the old gods…

That would set Odin on high alert. It might even make him foolish enough to enter Loki’s domain. Even though Loki was confident in his defences, he was not sure how much damage the Old Man would cause or even if he was weak enough for Loki to defeat head on. No, Loki needed at least another decade before he was ready for any sort of confrontation with the General. It would be better for all of them if the girl stayed here for now.

She was sleeping now, resting peacefully in the crook of his arm. “Watch her for me,” he told the goblins as he placed her back among her blankets.

“I see you, Trickster,” said a voice from the door. A woman was staring at him, not with malice or fear but with an odd half smile.

His scarred lips stretched into a grin and then he was gone, fiery aspect leaving a gunpowder trail as he fled, back to the hill.

Back to plot and scheme and wait for the girl with the grey-gold eyes to grow and one day find him.


End file.
